Toxicology
by LaughingDingo
Summary: Is it pure luck and an opportunity to study the elements of Dark Energon while getting accidental exposure, or is it a curse to be a student under Megatron and not allowed to leave the Nemesis?
1. The Fight

Ratchet had been foolish enough to travel via Ground Bridge alone when he knew he should have had at least BumbleBee, Arcee or BulkHead in tow when he returned to the scared earth that was ripped harshly by the magic of Dark Energon. The gladiator and leader of the Decepticons had taken back the shard when he went to retrieve it from his foolish mistake of even leaving it there in the first place.

He should have known that not every mecha that laid to rest on the barren wasteland was disposed of, and he certainly knew how foolish he was to come alone when a pair of rusted servos clawed from the earth. He felt them clasp at his ankles, talons digging into the tires and nearly popping them if Ratchet wasn't quick enough to kick himself free.

And luckily, that worked, until he felt another pair of servos grip his shin plates and bury inside, drawing the bright blue glow of their precious life source. Ratchet shouted in pain before he wielded his blades and slashed at a servo, the other letting go before the blade could bite into it. The first set of servos had clawed out the body and it soon lunged, causing Ratchet to fall backwards with a stumble before he gripped it by the neck, having quickly returned the blade for his servo.

Dark Energon saliva splattered across his faceplates and neck as he struggled with the undead mecha that was hungry to tear him apart. The second set of servos clawed out of the earth to come to Ratchet's left flank, lowering down to give the medic a nasty gash on his thigh.

A pained choke as he thrust his blade into the others chassis when he had the chance and found the perfect moment to strike. The mecha squealed in surprise before Energon poured out of its severed tanks, splattering in a lake on Ratchet's white chassis, turning it bright lavender.

He continued to stab it repeatedly until its body broke in two, the upper half still squirming and trying to claw at his helm. A struggling breath as he squeezed the zombie's neck until its neck ruptured and more Energon poured, some getting onto his face as he winced. While this was going on, the second zombie was crawling on top of the two of them and hissing with a screech before digits dug into the medic's sides, causing him to grunt and shout in pain. Open wounds were met with Dark Energon as the medic quickly kicked the other away, using his blade to cut the half of the zombie into smaller portions.

Quickly getting up on his pedes, he stumbled before he was tackled down by a hungry terrorcon. Ratchet had no time to react as he struggled, his chassis finally getting the make-over the first failed to give as scratches littered his body, also being met with Dark Energon. The unholy substance made his mesh crawl as he felt an instant sickness start to spread over his body.

His arms started to tremble from the strain, he wasn't used to this, wasn't used to fighting for so long. He wasn't made to fight anymore, then why was he still equipped with his weapons? He needed those, in case something like this came up, where he needed to use self-defense. But he wasn't expecting to use them on these dead bodies again. Hell, he wasn't expecting to use them ever again.

The corpse on top of him was winning the struggle and it slashed and clawed at his chassis and moved high to his collar and soon his neck. A claw caught and tore a bright blue hole in the others neck, which caused Ratchet to gasp instantly and let the other go to put his servos to his neck. There was no way in hell he was going to die, but letting the other go was a foolish mistake. Before he could return his servos to the other's shoulders or neck, a mess of jagged denta dug into his neck cables, bright blue gushing out like a tomato being bit into.

His scream was cut off, his mouth and esophagus was being filled with Energon as he choked. He quickly, upon instinct for survival, thrust the blade into the zombie's chassis and continued to stab it repeatedly until it broke in two, then again quickly cut its helm off and kicked it off. Holding his neck, he tried to command for a Ground Bridge, but his voice was gone.

Instead he gasped and wheezed, sending out a distress signal. He knew he was close to Decepticon territory, and he honestly didn't seem to care if he got picked up by the enemy. He wanted to live, damn it, and he didn't care who fixed him. He didn't want to die out here alone.

He still held his servo to his neck as his blade had eaten itself deep inside the terrorcon's shoulder, lying on top of him as he wheezed. He was panicking, and he knew that wasn't a good thing to do in this situation. Taking in too much in-takes resulted from quicker dispersion of Energon, which meant leaking out faster.

He tried to focus on his in-takes, tried to calm himself down, but he just couldn't think at the moment. Energon pooled beneath his shoulder as his optics started to dim. To his left there was movement, and a thud as a heavy object landed. A weight was lifted as the corpse was grabbed and tossed aside, the mecha in his vision was a large gladiator, sleek and silver as it glared down at the medic.

He narrowed his optics in return to squint at the larger one. And he shuddered as he choked on his own Energon. "M-Megatron?" He rasped as he pressed his servo tighter to his neck. And indeed, Megatron lowered to one knee and moved the medic's servo away to glance at the damage before he placed it back and looked at Ratchet with a scowl.

"And what in the pits were you thinking of coming here when more of the undead no doubt still roam?" He growled at the medic who cringed slightly, although it was unnoticeable since his body refused to respond the way he wanted it to.

Ratchet tried to give a logical reply, but the warlord only hissed for him to be silent. "You are an idiot to come alone." He growled before he stood, turning slightly away before he felt a servo grip his ankle plating. Megatron looked back and down at the medic as he stared up at him with fear and anger in his dimming optics.

"H-Help me… P-P-Please…" He rasped with a weak and pathetic whimper. Megatron growled as he searched the medic's face before he bared his denta. "I must be a fool to be doing this for the enemy, but what choice have I if Prime is not able to fight a fair fight with me if he is not in his peak condition? Very well, Ratchet, I will save you." He growled, turning to face the emergency vehicle and kneeling down to pick the medic up the way a groom would his bride.

He radioed the Nemesis, requesting that his third in command bridge him immediately to the medical bay. He had found a wounded mecha and said mecha needed assistance. Although the third in command, SoundWave, was curious and would have asked his Lord why he had found a stray mecha and decided to do an act of kindness and see if he could possibly save its life, but it was quickly answered by Megatron's sharp voice as he answered his thoughts.

"Damn it SoundWave, it's Ratchet. Open the Primus damned bridge before you regret this." He snarled, the bridge soon appearing at the end of his sentence and he quickly made his way through, the vortex engulfing them in colors of white, green, blue and pink.

And the vortex was gone.


	2. The Infection

As the gladiator carried the medic through the bridge, he was greeted by the cherry medic himself, who had gotten a warning from SoundWave in advance that he needed to prep for a patient that wasn't one of their own. He didn't tell him who it was; he just wanted to bear witness to his expression when he saw Ratchet.

And what an expression he gave. KnockOut was in dumb shock as he saw Megatron carrying the Auto-Bot medic. His mouth was agape as he just stared. That was until Megatron growled at the other and gave him a small nudge with his elbow as he carried Ratchet towards a medical berth. That snapped the doctor out of it as he hurried after his Lord.

Pulling down tubes to connect to the terrified Ratchet (an expression he would never forget on the hot-head of a doctor) and pulled out tools and seemed to smirk. Oh he could do Megatron a huge favor and offline the idiot doctor easily, but the low growl and smack on the upside of the back of his helm made him yelp. He rubbed the tender spot and glared at Megatron, who was already leaving. Damn, it was like he could actually read his mind.

Ratchet was wide-eyed and staring at KnockOut as he moved closer. It was too bad that Ratchet had been found by the Deceptions. But at least KnockOut would have his long overdue payback from that vicious punch he received when Ratchet came to the children's rescue.

"It's too bad I can't offline you." The medic sneered as he started to tend to the others neck, not without causing him some pain and discomfort in the meantime. Ratchet squirmed slightly before the anesthetics kicked in and he was almost asleep from the pain and loss of Energon. KnockOut attached a vein of liquid Energon to his arm, pumping him slowly full of the life source. All while KnockOut worked.

Ratchet's vision was getting foggy, and he couldn't seem to stay awake any longer as he slowly slipped into an emergency power down to conserve any Energon he had left in his systems.

The next time he powered online, the cherry medic was out of sight, possibly grumbling that Megatron was a fool to have him heal up an Auto-Bot when they would kill them later. And much to Ratchet's dismay, he was strapped to the berth as he felt the wounds start to burn. He grits his denta, forcing himself not to whimper. He had faced much more painful things than this, and this clearly was nothing compared to what Optimus Prime had been through.

And now he was a prisoner on the warlord's massive ship, the Nemesis.

Perfect.

He grunted somewhat as he lifted his helm, quickly lowering it with a hiss as he felt his neck wound become rather tender with too much movement on his end. He let out a small groan as he waited for the medic to return so he could give him an audio-full.

And just as he was plotting what to say, the bay doors opened and closed and instead of KnockOut, before him stood Lord Megatron.

"Don't leave yet, we need you to keep Prime in top condition, so it'll be a fair fight for me to win." He grinned deviously before he patted the doctor's shoulder, causing him to flinch. "Easy, Ratchet. I have no pleasure in killing you." He assured the emergency vehicle, causing Ratchet to frown at the other. He opened his mouth to speak, but much to his horror, he was unable to. No sound formed and no words were made. He quickly closed his mouth.

"Ah, yes. Your vocals managed to have been severed. I'll see to it that KnockOut repairs what he can. After all, it would be most troublesome if you couldn't express your anger." He smirked and Ratchet glared at him from his spot on the berth. And surprisingly, the gladiator knew how to work the bindings, for they slid off with ease.

Ratchet sat up and rubbed at his wrists, they were on tighter than he would have liked, but it was what he would get. "I still don't understand why you still are with that foolish Prime, when you could be with me." He said bluntly as he watched Ratchet try to voice his objection before he visibly growled and crossed his arms over his chassis tightly in mute rage.

He had reasons why he would stay with Prime. And sure as hell wasn't going to switch sides, even if it would save his own spark. Sure, it was dull when he was at base alone, working constantly and doing nothing productive. While Megatron had everything he ever needed and all the equipment he could have wished for. He shook his head at the thought of even possibly considering changing sides. He growled, he was playing him for a fool!

Megatron simply smirked as he loomed at his left. "I won't force you; after all, we need you alive like I said before." He smiled a smile that was eerie and held so many lies behind the simple expression. Ratchet felt static run along his spinal strut as he narrowed his optics at the warlord.

Ratchet was about to stand when he clutched at his tank and covered his mouth. What the hell was this? Did KnockOut do something to him? Megatron stayed where he was, he wasn't at all concerned for the medic's well-being, except that he remained alive. But even if the gladiator was a heartless being, he had feelings and concerns as well.

"Easy, Ratchet." He said sternly as he picked up a bin and handed it to him, who took it quickly and purged into the bucket. He coughed and sputtered, wincing. What the hell? He narrowed his optics at the slop inside of the bucket, that wasn't Energon, was it? He looked up at Megatron, asking and demanding answers as he glared at him.

"You're infected, Ratchet." He said flatly, causing Ratchet's optics to widen in pure shock and horror. He looked back into the bucket and stared, that was Energon. Dark Energon. He looked up to Megatron, demanding to know how he was infected.

Megatron only arched an optic ridge, and turned slightly to see KnockOut enter, the doors closing behind him as he tilted his helm. "Lord Megatron, why are the bindings off?" He asked, getting a cross look from Megatron. "What?"

"Care to explain to the doctor why he's purging up Dark Energon along with what's in his tanks?" He asked, tilting his helm and completely ignoring the others question about why Ratchet wasn't bound.

"What? Well, you were there; I don't know how it happened." KnockOut said as he approached the emergency vehicle. Ratchet glared at him defiantly and growled, wishing he could just yell at him, but there was nothing he could do. Megatron cleared his throat, getting Ratchet's attention.

"While fighting the terrorcons, their Dark Energon blood got into your wounds and mouth, causing the transformation of normal Energon to tinted Energon. You're running on Dark Energon, Ratchet." He said as he gestured to KnockOut, who arched a brow at him before he produced a reflective object. Ratchet seemed horrorstruck before he snatched the object and stared at himself.

He nearly dropped it, setting the bin aside as he touched his own face. His optics weren't a calm blue, but a fierce violet.

He was tainted.


End file.
